November 11, 2009

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Choosing love and live

Regarding “Choosing love over unlove and courage over fear,” Archbishop’s Column (Oct. 21 Denver Catholic Register).

Archbishop Chaput’s comments are commonly familiar to those of us who have endured medical professionals urging further testing to determine whether our unborn child would have Down syndrome.

Our second oldest child was born with Down syndrome. He is now 17 years old and has been such a joy. He is the most happy, loving, caring young man you could ever meet. He has a magnetic personality that warms your heart. His intellectual capacity may not be that of a whiz kid, but what he lacks in IQ he has triple in love for all. I always say there is a reason why he is termed “special needs”—he is my special gift from God that needs to be loved.

When I became pregnant with my third child I was advised by my doctor to have an amniocentesis to determine whether I was having another child with Down syndrome. I informed my doctor I would not risk miscarriage for that. The risk to my child was too high to take. All unborn children are gifts from God and we cannot pick and choose what kind of child we want or do not want to have.

We now have five healthy, beautiful children and would not trade any one of them for any other.

Joyce Madrid-Andrews
Denver